h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That's it, exactly. Life is short, so enjoy what you've got, right now.

I really enjoyed the Dirk Gently series. I was disappointed that he never got to finish the third novel. Very few people try to tie in a mystery novel with fantasy/science fiction and succeed - Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams are the only two people who've really done it well. (If you know of somebody else that's pulled it off, let me know - I love that sort of thing!) (Oh, besides Isaac Asimov. The Robot series is well worth reading, although a bit dry.)

you should try reading some Michale Marshall Smith or John Courtney Grimwood!
oh and this great book called STONE but I forget the author.

If you like a mix of crime/comedy/SF&F then try The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

I enjoyed reading Asimov too, although I find his philosophy, although good, isn't half as fun as Pratchett and Adams's

For post-apocalyptic try Dahlgren by Samuel Delaney.... very

But I agree that two different worlds and philosophies are represented by TP and DNA.

*Jumps into thread and completely disrupts it*

Hey all, I think I saw a comment about Small Gods being someone's favourite book?

In any case, I'm here plugging Pratchetts Anonymous (we're still not sure about where/if the apostrophe should go), cos we're reviewing all PTerry's books.

Cheers for any help you feel you can give

Oh yeah, Link. Erm,

A640360 for Pratchetts Anonymous
A760538 for the Reviews page.

What I remember about picking up my first Douglas Adams novel in 1980-ish was the sheer head-rush of coming across a sci-fi novel that thought differently.

At last - a novel that did NOT presume that any civilization light-years beyond Planet Earth in terms of technology would also be our superior in terms of religion, ethics, morality, et c.

In fact, hsg2 took what you can call the "Star Trek Assumption" of enhanced cosmic wisdom going hand in hand with technological advancement, and gave it the kicking it so richly deserved.

What we see is a civilization which is more materialist, consumerist, shallow, vain, and "1980's" on the cosmic scale, than anything Margaret Thatcher could have dreamed of - it kind of chimed with what I suspected about the universe!